This French expression might come up after a misunderstanding.
Why do I need to know s’emmêler les pinceaux?
Because mix-ups happen to all of us from time to time.
What does it mean?
S’emmêler les pinceaux – roughly pronounced saw meh-lay lay pan-so (listen here) – translates as ‘to mix up the paintbrushes’ or ‘to get the paintbrushes tangled up’, but in reality it does not have to do with painting or art.
Rather, it means to stumble or to mix something up.
This is because the word pinceaux has a second meaning in French. Colloquially, it also refers to feet or legs, coming from the word pince which, since the Middle Ages, has referred to a deer’s hoof.
As such, it gives the image of someone tripping or having their legs twisted.
You might hear this when someone is talking about their clumsy friend, or when discussing a misunderstanding, perhaps with a person who was confused or mixed something up.
In this sense, it would be similar to the English expression of ‘having your wires crossed’.
Use it like this
Je me suis emmêlé les pinceaux. J’ai dit que c’était à 10 heures, mais je voulais dire 22 heures. – I mixed things up. I said it was at 10am but I meant to say 10pm.
Mon grand-père voulait dire joyeux anniversaire à ma mère, pas à moi. À son âge, c’est normal de s’emmêler les pinceaux. – My grandfather meant to say happy birthday to my mother, not to me. At his age, it is normal to mix things up.
Quand il ment, ça se voit direct ! Il ne fait que s’emmêler les pinceaux. – When he lies, you can tell straight away! He stumbles over his words.